Helping your business grow, whether through optimising processes, upskilling your people or reducing costs through membership benefits – The Chamber connects you to funding, skills, new people, expert help and provides a platform where you and your business can flourish.

Whether you want to network, exhibit, learn more about what’s going on in your sector through industry forums – the Chamber helps you access hundreds of opportunities to meet and connect with businesses in the East Midlands every year.

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Reaching and influencing the right person, whether it’s your industry sector peers, your local MP, a specific Government department or simply people that need what you do – the Chamber is an authoritative body which has the status and mandate to ensure your voice is heard by the right people.

Whether you’re already exporting or planning your first overseas ventures, we can help you reach new markets to increase your potential profits and revenue. Through our extensive programme of trade missions, training courses, seminars and business clinics, we help you target the regions most likely to achieve results.

Contact us now to find out about the information, advice and support we offer to individuals and businesses.

The Chamber is the leading business organisation in the East Midlands. With a growing membership of more than 4,100+ businesses and 3,000 affiliates, it is the second largest Chamber of Commerce in the country.

Futurologist Jason Bradbury will be our headline speaker at our Annual Dinner 2019, he will cover topics including the evolution of technology and it's implications for the modern world. 👩🏾‍💻 Book tickets here. 👉 bit.ly/2Egf7lppic.twitter.com/bvF7fttbyK

Business Network Magazine

The Chamber’s highly respected flagship publication is produced ten times a year and read by thousands of business people throughout the region – with news from members featuring prominently.

Thursday, 15 March 2018

Chamber backs new laws to unlock space era for UK

New laws that will unlock an exciting era of British space innovation, exploration and investment are set to get Royal Assent today, the Government announced this morning.

The Space Industry Bill will enable the first commercial space launch from UK soil, creating the potential for hundreds of highly-skilled jobs and bringing in billions of pounds for the economy, it said.

The passing of the Bill, the most modern piece of space industry legislation anywhere in the world, means British businesses will soon be able to compete in the commercial space race using UK spaceports. Britain is already a global hub for satellite manufacturing, operation and application development.

Access to space will allow companies to deploy satellites as well, making the UK a one-stop shop for satellites services and the best place in Europe to start and grow a space business.

Transport Minister Jo Johnson said: “Access to space is the final piece of the puzzle for the UK space sector and forms part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy – helping to drive growth across the country and unlocking hundreds of highly-skilled jobs in our regions.

“The Space Industry Bill gives companies the ability to launch satellites from UK soil, putting us at the forefront of the new space race and helping us to compete as the destination of choice for satellite companies worldwide.”

A quarter of all telecoms satellites are already substantially built in Britain and UK firms are at the forefront of hypersonic flight technology. Through its Industrial Strategy, the Government is working with the industry to increase its global share of the space sector from 6.5% to 10% by 2030.

UK spaceports will offer an opportunity to tap into the rapidly expanding launch market – worth an estimated £10bn over the next decade. Satellite services already support more than £250bn of UK GDP.

The Space Industry Bill will also create new opportunities for the UK’s business and scientific community to carry out cutting-edge research and inspire the next generation of British scientists and engineers.

Chris Hobson, Director of Policy at the Chamber, said: “This announcement by Government today reaffirms what the Chamber has been saying about making sure we have the skills in our workforce, regionally and nationally, to drive the fourth industrial revolution and to make sure we are world-leaders in innovation in a post-Brexit economy.

“Here in the East Midlands we have to start shouting about the skills we have in our existing workforce and to work with our world-leading universities to make sure we are producing the skills sets for the future so that we can always be at the cutting edge of space technology.

“The big danger from a regional perspective is that bulk of the investment in this new space age could be ploughed into the UK’s version of Silicon Valley, the area to the west of London through Berkshire and into Wiltshire, where many of the companies involved in this level of technology are based.

“But we have firms working in this sector in the East Midlands, we have the National Space Centre in Leicester, we have led much of this innovation and we should, working alongside partners such the Midlands Engine for Growth and our universities, be doing everything we can to make sure we capitalise on this very lucrative opportunity.”

Strategic Partners

The Chamber is proud to work in partnership with carefully-selected and universally-recognised regional brands – many of which have a national and international presence - and the largest employers across the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.

Patrons

If you want to expand your reach in the East Midlands, then becoming a Chamber Patron is a shrewd move. It enables you to mix with the regions leading businesses at exclusive events, gain insight into what's going to happen and helps raise you profile on multiple levels.

Strategic Partners

The Chamber is proud to work in partnership with carefully-selected and universally-recognised regional brands – many of which have a national and international presence - and the largest employers across the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire.

Patrons

If you want to expand your reach in the East Midlands, then becoming a Chamber Patron is a shrewd move. It enables you to mix with the regions leading businesses at exclusive events, gain insight into what's going to happen and helps raise you profile on multiple levels.